Travel & Hotspots

Onze Meisje in New York

Pizza and pinot at Pizza Beach, finally hanging out at the Bow Bridge and Blue coming along to NYFW. Just a small excerpt from my Amayzine post from last week. This week? If I'm not hanging between the washing machines, I'm either grocery shopping for Blue's two weeks without his mama, hanging on the Stairmaster to still cultivate some kind of good ‘bikini body’, or I'm hysterically Pinteresting behind the laptop for a hundred and one mood boards. Everything again at the last minute. Because a few days later, I will be in Italy with my husband. For those who don't know yet: in nine months, I will marry my love companion in the land of amore. For three days long. And this weekend we are flying to the location and have appointments with all the suppliers to fill the entire weekend. We have appointments with the flower guy to the pastry shop for the wedding cake, and from the seating arrangements and the lighting to the people who will set up the tent. And that is incredibly fun, but also hugely stressful. Especially for types like me (in my husband's words: I'm quite a control freak). A thousand and one questions continuously race through my mind. What do we want? We want a fairy tale. We want a thousand flowers. We want candles. We want letter balloons. We want pink lighting around the castle and a disco ball at the party. And what color tablecloths do we want? Do we even want tablecloths? What are those flowers that I find so beautiful? Do we want a rose wall or is that a bit too much in the whole? Where do we want the tent? How are we going to arrange all the rooms? What time does the sun set in May? Why are we even doing this? So grand. Is it too much? Am I going crazy? Am I going crazy? Yes, I'm going crazy. And I still have to pack my suitcase. Goodness gracious. Help.

Fortunately, I can rest for our ‘wedding moon’ at my mother's in the Netherlands and continue with mood boards for the suppliers there. That thought reassures me. Just a week in the low countries doing absolutely nothing. With that thought, I regroup and my suitcase is slowly getting filled. Blue sees it all happening. Anxiously, he stares at that gray thing on wheels that can never bring anything good. In protest, he lies on top of my carefully chosen clothes and even snatches a pair of pants from my suitcase onto the couch. Blue doesn't want me to leave, but I tell him that I will definitely come back. I think he heard me...

Just before I roll my 23-kilo heavy contraption on wheels outside, I get a call from the doorman. A package has arrived. An internal joy dance follows, because I know what's downstairs: my first gift from Vogue US. I was drying my hair with them last week. They had made the supersonic hairdryer from Dyson available to the hairstylist. And as a thank you, I posted a photo of my beach curls on Instagram. Vogue liked the photo so much that they sent me a thank you in return; the Dyson hairdryer. Like a child, I quickly plug it in. It's like a supersonic airplane taking off, and the thing not only blows incredibly, it's the most beautiful hairdryer I've ever had.

At mom's, I always get breakfast in bed. I don't really do breakfast, but a kiwi and a cappuccino definitely go down well. An hour later, the same happens with this vanilla muffin. After that comes sprinkles. Filet americain. Fries with war sauce. With onions. A croquette. And in the evening, mashed potatoes from the butcher. Tomorrow I'm going on a diet.

With sweaty hands, I sit in the waiting room. It's been three years since I've been here. I never go to New York. But mom doesn't live there either. Because mom is ‘of the teeth’. She gives me a new electric toothbrush every year. Always asks if I'm still brushing my teeth properly. And has now arranged an appointment with the dentist. I hate it and I break out in a cold sweat as I sit in the chair. And guess what? Zero cavities! Let's have coffee to celebrate that. I quickly order another one because that jet lag is really unbearable...

Amsterdam is so beautiful. I walk around and realize that I really do love this city quite a lot. With friends, I eat at the Sea Food Bar and a day later I'm with mom in the city of the Rijksmuseum and the romantic canals. We're going to perform magic with Hans Klok in Carré. In seats 1 and 2, we might have the best view. And honestly, this show is amazing! It might have lasted just a bit too long and at the beginning, Klokkie had to get into the groove, but the whole thing was pure magic.

So. I'm done eating. Well-rested. And recharged. With a book of mood boards, I'm leaving for Italy in a few hours. Follow our wedding moon closely on Insta, maybe I'll throw in some pictures of the location that is still a secret to all our guests…